In general, a shift lever, which is disposed near the driver's seat in an automatic transmission vehicle, is configured such that a lower end thereof is rotatably hinged to be selectively positioned to a P (parking)—position, an R (reverse)—position, an N (neutral)—position, and a D (drive)—position while moving along a groove of a range formed in the detent plate according to a driver's operation.
The automatic transmission vehicle also has a shift lock function to prevent the shift lever from being moved to P→R shift or N→R shift of the shift lever unless a driver presses down the brake pedal, whereby it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a safety accident due to carelessness of the driver.
An apparatus for implementing the shift lock function includes a shift lock solenoid and a shift lock lever.
When the shift lever is in the P position and the driver does not press the brake pedal, an end of the shift lock lever is held in a body of the shift lever, thereby preventing the shift lever from being undesirably changed from the P position to the R position or to another shift position.
Further, if the driver presses the brake pedal while the shift lever in the P position, a sensor detects the operating state of the brake pedal and transmits it to a body control module (BCM), the shift lock solenoid is operated by the control of the BCM, and the shift lock lever is operated in conjunction with the operation of the shift lock solenoid. Accordingly, the shift lever is released by releasing the end of the shift lock lever held in the body of the shift lever, whereby the shift lever can be moved from the P position to the R position or another shift position according to the driver's will.
Further, the automatic transmission vehicle has a shift lock release function other than the shift lock function, wherein the shift lock release function is used when the shift lever fails to be released due to a failure of the shift lock solenoid, etc. even though the driver has stepped on the brake pedal while the shift lever is in the P position.
The shift lock release lever is provided to implement the shift lock release function, wherein when shift lock release lever is manually operated, the plunger of the shift lock solenoid is forcibly moved, and the end of the shift lock lever held in the body of the shift lever is forcibly released, thereby releasing the locked state of the shift lever.
However, in the conventional structure, the shift lock solenoid and the shift lock lever are mounted to have a connection structure with each other at independent positions, and the shift lock lever and the shift lock release lever are also mounted to have a connection structure with each other at independent positions. In other words, the three components, that is, the shift lock solenoid, the shift lock lever, and the shift lock release lever are installed in separate positions, respectively. As a result, it is problematic in that an installation space must be secured individually for each component, and the overall size is increased when assembled with the shift lever.
It is further problematic in that the three components, that is, the shift lock solenoid, the shift lock lever, and the shift lock release lever are assembled to have connection structures with each other at independent positions, it is difficult to secure the quality due to a large variation in assembly tolerance at the connection part between the components, and a quality problem may be caused due to the slow response in performing the shift lock or shift lock release.
It is further problematic in that the separate assembly structure as described above may lead to excessive assembly time and reduced productivity.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.